Our Team

Meet Our Team of Professionals

Bob Berno Biography

Dr. Bob Berno joined MACS in the fall of 2005 as the Manager of the McMaster NMR Facility. Bob leads a team of NMR experts and oversees all aspects of the operation and maintenance of the facility, and he is the Operations Manager for the GMP NMR Laboratory. His educational background spans from ultrahigh resolution gas phase laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy (MSc, UBC) to characterization of thin film materials (PhD, Windsor) to the study of surfaces and interfaces (Research Associate, Surface Science Western) to NMR spectroscopy (NMR Specialist, Dalhousie University). His expertise in theoretical aspects of spectroscopy, as well as applications of solution- and solid-state NMR spectroscopy is well recognized. When not in the lab, Bob enjoys the outdoors: kayaking and camping with his family in the summer and downhill skiing in the winter.

JimBritten

Jim Britten Biography

James F. Britten, PhD, has been the Manager and Scientific Director of the McMaster Analytical X-ray Diffraction Facility since 1991. He has over thirty years of expertise in single crystal X-ray structure solution, powder diffraction, texture analyses and residual stress analyses. These techniques are applicable to problems in molecular, solid state, thin film, polymer, and metallic systems. With Weiguang Guan of McMaster’s Research and High Performance Computing Support, Jim has developed a software package (MAX3D) for the visualization of 3-dimensional diffraction patterns. He has served as a member of the Executive Council of the American Crystallographic Association and as Chair of the Canadian National Committee for Crystallography. Jim is one of the Montréal Canadiens biggest fans, and spends a lot of time driving through the countryside to get his children to skating practice.

MeganFair

Megan Fair Biography

Megan Fair is our GMP Quality Manager. She graduated with a BSc (Hon; Co-op) from McMaster University in 2012, and during that time had co-op or volunteer placements in almost every facility in MACS. She joined MACS as Quality Assurance Officer in late 2013, where she had a major role in building the GMP system for the NMR and MS Facilities, and became Quality Manager in 2016. Megan's other role as Technical Quality Technician has her assisting data collection and instrument maintenance in the NMR Facility. She recently completed a Quality Assurance Level I Program at Mohawk College for Continuing Education (2015). In her leisure time, Megan enjoys curling up with her cat and a good book, playing board games with friends and going to the gym.

KirkGreen

Kirk Green Biography

After several years working in enhanced oil recovery research with the Alberta Research Council, Kirk Green returned to the academic world and in 1997 received a PhD under Dr. Carlito Lebrilla at The University of California (Davis). His postdoctoral fellowship was a joint appointment between the University of Delaware and DuPont Central Research and Development, where he applied mass spectrometry to problems in peptide and protein analysis. In 1998 he took up his current position as Manager of the McMaster Regional Centre for Mass Spectrometry, a division of MACS, and Kirk is also the GMP Mass Spectrometry Laboratory Operations Manager. Kirk’s extensive experience translates to versatility for solving a wide variety of mass spectrometry problems. A native Northern Ontarian, Kirk still enjoys the great outdoors. He is also a master of bad puns.

VickyJarvis

Vicky Jarvis Biography

Victoria Jarvis is a Research Scientist at the McMaster Analytical X-ray Diffraction Facility, with several years of experience characterizing materials using X-ray diffraction. She is a specialist in powder diffraction, Rietveld Analysis, texture and stress analyses, reciprocal space mapping, percent crystallinity, and amorphous quantification. She has built an extensive network of both academic and industrial clients. Victoria received her MASc in Engineering Physics at McMaster University (2013), where she studied nano-composite coating materials for photovoltaic applications with Dr. John Preston. She has also completed the following training programs: Personal Leadership, Experimentation for Improvement, Bruker D8 DISCOVER with XRD2 Applications Training, and Pharmaceutical Training-GMP. In her off-time, Victoria plays softball, baseball and volleyball, she is the proud owner of a pet hedgehog and she experiments with new recipes.

HilaryJenkins

Hilary Jenkins Biography

Hilary Jenkins brings her expertise in molecular structure elucidation using single-crystal X-ray diffraction and solution NMR spectroscopy to the MACS team. Her experience with both of these techniques led to her unique position at MACS as a Research Scientist (NMR and X-ray). She is also a GMP Analyst in the NMR Facility. Hilary received her PhD in inorganic chemistry from The University of Windsor with Dr. Stephen J. Loeb (1994), and after postdoctoral appointments in synthetic organometallic chemistry, she spent one year as the Staff Crystallographer at Western University. Prior to joining MACS in 2008, she held an academic post as Associate Professor (Inorganic Chemistry) at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, NS. In her spare time she writes, teaches yoga, volunteers in the community and spends lots of time with her family and dogs.

FanFei

Fan Fei Biography

Fan Fei completed her B.Sc. in Chemistry at McMaster University, and she then joined the research group of the belated Brian McCarry at McMaster University for PhD studies in metabolomics in 2010. She completed her PhD studies with Dawn Bowdish in 2015, where she gained expertise in the field of immunology. Her PhD work focussed on developing analytical platforms for comprehensive metabolomics, using GCMS and LCMS, which she then applied to various in vitro biological applications including gene functions, growth environment, gerontology, toxicity and natural product discovery. She joined MACS in 2015 as a Mass Spectrometry Specialist, and she is also a GMP Analyst in the Mass Spectrometry Facility. In her spare time, Fan likes to get outdoors for a good hike.

Contact Form

Subject *

Your Name *

Your Title

Email address *

Phone

Company

Address

How can we help you? *

Please give us as much information as possible and we will get back to you within one business day.